Tattoos
by thelegendofappa
Summary: Tenzin needs her there by his side.


Lin stepped off the dock at Air Temple Island on shaky legs, cursing the ocean. She still wasn't used to travelling over water. She was accustomed to always feeling the earth beneath her, but when it wasn't there, she felt like one of her senses had been taken away. She jogged lightly towards Aang and Katara's house, not wanting Katara to worry that the ferry was late.

Lin always visited Air Temple Island at least one a week; it was like her second home. She had grown up with Bumi, Kya and Tenzin here. Although they had all grown older and had more responsibilities that prevented them from spending time together like they used to, Lin always managed to make time.

But since turning seventeen six months ago, Lin had enrolled in her mother's metalbending academy, which consumed a lot of her time. She hadn't visited in two weeks, which seemed like a long time to her.

Lin opened the door to the kitchen and let herself in. Katara was there, humming in front of the kitchen sink and waterbending the dishes clean.

"Hey Katara." Lin greeted. Katara looked over her shoulder to give Lin a warm smile.

"Hello Lin, dear. How has the metalbending academy been?" Lin shrugged.

"It's pretty intense, but I'm getting through it alright." She glanced around. "Where's Tenzin?"

Katara gestured to the window, trying to hide a smile. "I think he's out in the courtyard." Lin had dashed out of the room before Katara had even finished.

Like Katara said, Lin found Tenzin in the courtyard, meditating. His brow was furrowed in concentration and his shoulders were tense. He was fidgeting like he was trying hard to focus, but wasn't really succeeding. Lin approached him from behind, treading very carefully so he wouldn't hear her. She tip toed until she was right behind him, her mouth next to his ear.

Lin prepared herself, sucking in a deep breath of air.

"HELLO AIRHEAD!" Lin bellowed, stomping her foot and causing the slab of stone he was sitting on to tilt forward in a violent and abrupt motion.

"AAAAAAAH!" Tenzin shouted, his eyes shooting open and his arms flailing as he unceremoniously face-planted onto the ground. Lin collapsed, her sides splitting from her intense fit of laughter.

Tenzin sat up, glaring at her and rubbing his head. Lin lay on her back, trying to gather air back into her lungs.

Tenzin sighed, looking down at her. "Hey Lin."

Lin grinned up at him from the ground. "Hiya." She giggled. "Did I hurt you? I'm sorry."

Tenzin scowled playfully. "No you're not."

"Maybe you're right."

Tenzin smiled, leaning down to kiss her lips. Lin propped herself on her elbows to deepen the kiss.

When they pulled apart, there were worry lines etched in Tenzin's forehead. Lin flipped herself over and sat up, tracing the lines in his face.

"What's wrong?" she asked quietly. Tenzin averted his gaze to skyline, questions in his eyes.

"Can I…can I ask you a favor?" Tenzin queried in a low voice.

"Sure," Lin replied immediately. "Shoot at me."

Tenzin turned, looking Lin in her vivid green eyes and taking her hand, calloused from work at the metalbending academy.

He took a deep breath. "I finished my airbending training."

Lin squeezed his hand. "That's fantastic, Tenzin. I"m happy for you."

Tenzin smiled weakly. "The thing is, I'm going to get my Air Nomad tattoos tomorrow. Dad's going to do them."

Lin blinked, trying to imagine Tenzin with blue arrows on his bald forehead, legs and arms. Tenzin rubbed the back of Lin's hand with his thumb.

"I was wondering," Tenzin began uncertainly. "If you could be there with me while I was getting them. Dad says it's easier when someone's there to distract you." Lin twisted her neck to press a kiss to his cheek.

"Of course I'll be there for you, Airhead." Tenzin grinned widely, relieved.

Lin sent a letter to her mother, letting her know that she was staying the night on Air Temple Island.

She slept in the bedroom that Katara always kept for her in case she slept over. During dinner however, she reminded both Lin and Tenzin to stay on their sides of the temple. Tenzin had promptly turned a deep shade of red and Lin had excused herself to the bathroom, while Bumi, Aang, Sokka and Kya burst out laughing.

The next morning, Lin awoke and traveled to Katara's healing room. Tenzin was sitting down shirtless while his mother applied various creams and salves to his skin to prepare it. Aang was in the corner, readying the needles and blue ink.

Tenzin gave Lin a nervous look. Lin gave him a reassuring smile and sat beside him, gripping his hand.

Once Aang was ready, they started.

At first, it was all Tenzin could do to grit his teeth, close his eyes and try not to scream. He squeezed Lin's hand so tightly that she was afraid that he might break it, but she whispered words of encouragement in his ear, and his grip lessened.

Katara used water to heal the places that had been tattooed. Once Aang had moved to the sensitive skin on the back of his hands, Tenzin's brow creased and his muscles trembled slightly.

"Hey Tenzin," Lin spoke suddenly to distract him. "Remember that time we playing Hide and Seek and you climbed up a tree?"

"Yeah," Tenzin replied, a grin on his face replacing his grimace of pain. "You'd just discovered your earthbending."

Lin chuckled. "And when I found you, I earthbended you out of the tree."

Tenzin shook his head nostalgically. "But I fell really far, and you were scared that I was going to get really hurt."

"But you airbended for the first time ever," Lin reminded him. "And you saved yourself." Tenzin smiled at Lin, for a moment forgetting about the needles piercing his skin.

The process took the entire day (with bathroom and food breaks). At some points in the procedure, Aang advised Tenzin to meditate to block out the pain.

Lin kept up light conversation with Tenzin throughout the process. Katara and Aang were entirely focused on applying the tattoos, so they never interceded in their conversations. It was as if Tenzin and Lin were alone, just talking.

They talking about their childhood, Tenzin's training, life at the metalbending academy, and what they were going to do when Tenzin's tattoos were done.

"Hey Lin," Tenzin spoke when Aang was working on the arrow going up his back.

"Yeah Airhead?" Lin replied, eyeing the finished tattoos on the backside of his hands.

"After this is done, can I take you for a ride on Oogi?" he asked hopefully, waggling his eyebrows up and down.

Lin made a face. Tenzin pleaded with his eyes and pouted.

"Fine," Lin conceded, rolling her eyes. "But only because you're getting needles stuck into your skin." Tenzin beamed at her, his blue eyes twinkling.

"Thank you Lin," Tenzin spoke softly, gazing at her. "For being here."

Lin smirked, lightly running the tips of her fingers over the blue arrows running down his arm.

"I wouldn't want to be anywhere else, Airhead."


End file.
